Back in October 2016, I had a couple of free taster sessions with a local K.O.R.E. therapist, Tessa Donovan of D.r.E. Therapy, for Parkinson's. K.O.R.E. is based on Wellness Engineering techniques (which is how, I believe, "Complementary Therapies" should be more properly termed). K.O.R.E. employs kinesiology muscle testing to identify root causes of health issues and then uses bioenergy and biomechanic techniques to seek to resolve them. We are looking at how such strategies might work for resolving Parkinson's symptoms, through experimenting on myself.
Here, I will just describe what happened in our first session - because of the dramatic results we found in this first instance. I beleive this as an example of a therapy which causes "Fascial Unwinding", an important process for people with PD which I only discovered more about recently. I recommend anyone affected by Parkinson's Diease to read this fascinating article on the subject:
Understanding the Process of Fascial Unwinding
After taking a thorough case history and performing some tests, Tessa began with cupping. It was a little ad hoc, because normally the client would be lying on their front on a massage table. However, because I had timed things to be deliberately quite "off", I was too stiff and uncomfortable to lie face down, so had to sit on a stool. The cupping and the back massage which accompanied it were certainly of therapeutic value. The photograph above shows the outcomes, and these are quite important, because according to Tessa, the darker the marks left by the cups, the more problematic the area. I have written many times before about how most of my problems arise from my shoulders, especially on my right side where my thoracic outlet syndrome is worse. So it is very interesting to me how unusually dark the marks came out precisely where my most problematic points are. There was some highly beneficial emotional release (crying) with the cupping too. However, this first application of the cups did not relieve my rigidity of muscles or resolve my lack of movement by itself.
Then, lying on my back on the table, Tessa began to take each of my limbs in turn and apply the bioenergy and biomechanics techniques. Essentially, she held each limb one by one, manipulating them, but also allowing them to move as they would. I had some big sudden relaxes of the limbs during this part of the treatment, but these were not lasting this time - the Parkinson's muscle stiffness would quickly kick back in and tense up the muscles again. Importantly, however, this part of the strategy also resulted in more of the crucial emotional releases too.
Then Tessa moved on to my neck, lifting my head and applying pressure. I have never experienced anything like what this did for me before. I could feel intense relief, energy flows through my body and deep pleasure at the applications of pressure to the right places on my neck.
Next, she held my head. I felt compelled to put my hands on top of hers and even though I was still quite stiff, my hands and arms moved automatically; my body was so hungrily drinking in the warmth coming through from her hands. However, it was the denouement where something profound and important happened. Tessa simply, but lightly held my jaw. My head started shaking from side to side. I moaned. From my head down into my body, which began to untwist itself with large movements. I became totally loose and all the symptoms went away.
I have seen something very similar to what she induced in videos of Trauma and Tension Release Exercises and Network Spinal Analysis. Similiar events in animals can be found in videos on youtube, as they recover from having had to "play dead" due to an attack by a predator.
I would also ask people with Parkinson's to study again the photographic record I included at the top of this post, to note very carefully how badly my body is misaligned and how severe and obvious the postural imbalances are. I would then highly recommend the taking of photographs of themselves too and to then study these carefully. Understanding how badly our bodies have become unbalanced, is, I believe, key to taking the necessary steps back to a healthy and well state.
After our first session was over, I felt high, energized, completely free of the symptoms. The fact that the impact of the therapy lasted throughout the day was demonstrable to me, because as I continued to take the drugs on the normal schedule, I got the worse cases of Dyskinesia I have had in a very long time. Dyskinesia or uncontrolled movement comes with the drugs when the dosages are excessive, so this proves to me that the therapy had indeed produced in my body a natural dopamine response.